Suppose, for a moment, that a government agency, perhaps the State Police, compiled a report that said most of Michigan’s driver training schools were graduating kids who were hopelessly incapable of traveling the roads in a safe manner.

Imagine that this report found that driving-school students fell far below the basic standards in areas such as changing lanes, freeway driving, braking in time to avoid collisions, and negotiating intersections that include yield signs or roundabouts.

Yet, these students are given a driver license and sent out into the streets and highways, doomed by a lack of skills that collide with the realities of life on the road.

That sounds like a ludicrous way to prepare kids for their future, but that’s the path traveled now by our K-12 school officials as they continue to graduate kids who display a woeful lack of knowledge in the basics, such as math and reading.

The new state test scores that were released last week, the outcomes posted by high school juniors on the annual Michigan Merit Exam, were again shockingly low, but educators and the governor tried to paper over the realities by pointing out that scores are improving.

More than two-thirds of students statewide who took the MME test cannot read at their grade level, but Gov. Rick Snyder seems pleased that “these improved scores reflect the hard work of the students.”

Less than one-fourth of Macomb County students are proficient in science, but Judy Pritchett, the county’s chief academic officer, said the MME scores show that the “staff throughout the county are focused on providing excellent instruction.”

Have we sunk so deeply into declining expectations for our kids that a slight improvement in mediocre scores is declared a victory?

The MME, administered in the spring, tested students in math, reading, science, social studies and writing. And what the exam showed is that most kids are not very knowledgeable in any of these subjects. But they will get their diploma in the coming school year and be sent on their way to a college or university. The ACT college entrance exam scores that were released along with the MME results found that nearly 200 high schools in Michigan did not have a single student who was “college ready” by the ACT’s standards.

That is a stunning number. Why are parents and taxpayers in those communities paying $7,000 or $8,000 per student — each year, for 12 years — if none of these teens are ready for college at the end of the K-12 education process?

At a time when most good-paying jobs require some form of higher education, Snyder places a great emphasis on the college-ready stats. But the numbers actually dropped, from an abysmal 18.1 percent of students last year to 17.8 percent in 2014.

In Macomb County, six school districts — Clintondale, East Detroit, Warren-Fitzgerald, Mount Clemens, New Haven and Van Dyke (south Warren) — have a college-readiness rate of less than 5 percent. What’s more, only three districts — Chippewa Valley, Utica and Romeo — have readiness rates above 20 percent.

Is this the outcome we expect from the hundreds of millions of dollars we spend on public education in Macomb County?

In neighboring Oakland County, the figures are better, about one-fourth of students overall are considered college-ready, but that’s largely because Bloomfield Hills enjoyed one of the highest rates in the state, at 60 percent, and three other districts (Birmingham, Novi and Troy) hovered above 40 percent.

Those who oppose the move toward new Common Core academic standards, claiming the program is an attempt at a Washington takeover of local schools, should consider another tact: American kids are just not ready for a higher level of learning.

In a moment of unguarded candor, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said last year that in states where Common Core has already taken root, “white suburban moms” suddenly discovered that their kids aren’t as “brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were (sic).”

So, here’s the overall education situation: Macomb County kids lag behind the state average; Michigan kids are losing ground to average U.S. kids; and typical U.S. kids rank no better than mediocre on academic tests compared to students across the globe.

In testing of 15-year-old students in dozens of industrialized countries, the U.S. ranks below average in mathematics, behind nations such as Estonia, Denmark and Slovenia. In reading skills, the U.S. stands in the middle of the pack, trailing the likes of Belgium, Finland and Switzerland. In science, we are average, with Poland and Austria outscoring our kids. These rankings are based on the Programme for International Student Assessment. The PISA exam tests kids’ ability to use their academic skills to solve real-world workplace situations. These are “word problems,” not multiple choice, that force students to rely upon their knowledge, creativity, analytical abilities and critical thinking — all the attributes 21st Century employers demand of their workforce.

And yet, there’s one more factor — the diverse demographics and socioeconomic conditions that separate the U.S. from most nations.

The overall student scores across the nation and Michigan gloss over glaring academic achievement gaps between white students and minority and low-income kids. Only 6 percent of black students in Michigan passed the math section of the MME.

In a nation with a rapidly growing minority population — and in Macomb County,where diversity is quickly settling in — we would be foolish to ignore these unequal classroom performances.

The road our kids are traveling puts far too many on a collision course with the realities of the global economy. Unless our educators wake up, many high school grads will be accidents waiting to happen.